THE RIDE of HER LIFE by Elizabeth Letts - Spotlight/Giveaway



Saddle up. We're heading across the country on horseback in bestselling author, Elizabeth Lett's new novel, THE RIDE of HER LIFE (BallantineBooks) ... The story of the "last of the saddle tramps."

In 1954, sixty-three-year-old Maine farmer Annie Wilkins embarked on an impossible journey. She had no money and no family, she had just lost her farm, and her doctor had given her only two years to live. But Annie wanted to see the Pacific Ocean before she died. She ignored her doctor’s advice to move into the county charity home. Instead, she bought a cast-off brown gelding named Tarzan, donned men’s dungarees, and headed south in mid-November, hoping to beat the snow. Annie had little idea what to expect beyond her rural crossroads; she didn’t even have a map. But she did have her ex-racehorse, her faithful mutt, and her own unfailing belief that Americans would treat a stranger with kindness.

Annie, Tarzan, and her dog, Depeche Toi, rode straight into a world transformed by the rapid construction of modern highways. Between 1954 and 1956, the three travelers pushed through blizzards, forded rivers, climbed mountains, and clung to the narrow shoulder as cars whipped by them at terrifying speeds. Annie rode more than four thousand miles, through America’s big cities and small towns. Along the way, she met ordinary people and celebrities—from Andrew Wyeth (who sketched Tarzan) to Art Linkletter and Groucho Marx. She received many offers—a permanent home at a riding stable in New Jersey, a job at a gas station in rural Kentucky, even a marriage proposal from a Wyoming rancher. In a decade when car ownership nearly tripled, when television’s influence was expanding fast, when homeowners began locking their doors, Annie and her four-footed companions inspired an outpouring of neighborliness in a rapidly changing world.


If you want to know why I’m a writer, you’d have to thank Mrs. Barclay, the children’s librarian in the Malaga Cove Library in Palos Verdes, California, and my mother. who has read more books than anyone else I know, and who carted me to the library from the time I could barely walk. From the day I sounded out my first board book (Ann Likes Red), read my first poem (Block City, by Robert Louis Stevenson) and was swept up in my first long chapter book, (Little House in the Big Woods) I’ve been a passionate reader and fascinated by the lives and personalities of my favorite authors. But I was a late bloomer. I spent my twenties and thirties working as a nurse-midwife and raising four children. When I turned forty, I decided that I didn’t want to be one of those people who thought she had a book in her but never gave it a try, and I sat down to write my first novel. Now, writing is my full-time pursuit. My passions are horses and all animals, my children, singing in a choir, and long road trips through the backroads of America. I care deeply about issues that affect women and children, and especially those who are fleeing danger. But my favorite hobby is still the one that Mrs. Barclay and my mom got me started on-- reading.


www.elizabethletts.com
Twitter: @elizabethletts
Facebook: www.facebook.com/eightydollarchampion
instagram elizabethletts

Thanks to Ballantine Books we have one copy to giveaway. Just tell us about your experience riding a horse. I used to ride English when I was very young, and then switched to Western. In my teens I gave it up because it was too much work. (Dumb mistake)  We'll announce a winner soon. Good luck.

GIVEAWAY: USA only please.


REMEMBER to post a picture of you holding your book when it arrives to Facebook: BluePointPress

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Comments

  1. I took riding lessons when I was young and then stopped. I realized it wasn't a long term interest. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  2. I rode a horse a few years ago, as my husband's cousins have a stable near their house and some horses that they ride often. They helped me and my family ride the horses in a small space.

    ReplyDelete
  3. tried it

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  4. As a young girl, I loved to ride horses at summer camp and sometimes during the year at riding stables.

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  5. Grew up taking lessons and show jumping.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have never ridden a horse. Tysm

    ReplyDelete
  7. Never tried it. It looked scary (Xialee1983@hotmail.com)

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  8. Tried it once and it hurt (Sellhighbuylow@hotmail.com)

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  9. Interesting positive.ideas.4you AT gmail.com

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  10. Hi, we used to have a horse when my siblings and I were growing up, his name was Big Red and we used to ride him, it was alot of fun. Have a great week and stay safe. aliciabhaney(at)sbcglobal(dot)net

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  11. I grew up in Iowa so my experience is with working quarter horses
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  13. Most of my experience has been getting to ride while on vacations. Riding on the beach at Cape Hatteras or in the mountains in Colorado.

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  14. I never rode but several of my nieces did, and participated in many, many shows. Loved to watch her ride.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I went horseback riding once many years ago. I couldn't imagine doing it now at 65.

    ReplyDelete
  16. The only horses I’ve ever ridden are on Merry-Go-Round carousels and I loved doing it. I have motion sickness and this ride was one I could tolerate. This sounds like a very special novel.

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  18. Never rode a horse. Sat on one for a photograph when I was six years old.

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  19. I've only ridden a horse once. Unfortunately, a friend in our group was thrown and injured and we left early to take him for an x-ray and stitches. I never went again. peggyrusso3@gmail.com

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